Living on the Wild Side

Wednesday 3/16/2016 4:40 AM

I have been reading Psalm 25 each day this week. The beginning of the psalm refers to hope in two different verses, “No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, … Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” In his book Resurrection to Pentecost, Robert F. Morneau divides hope into two different categories, what he calls tame hopes and wild hopes. He writes,

Many of our tame hopes are fulfilled on a daily basis; the hope that the sun will shine, or that the pay check will arrive as planned, or that we will get sufficient nourishment for the day. Though one is disappointed once in awhile, our anticipation of these ‘small’ things, though not insignificant, is frequently realized.

By contrast, some of these same issues for people in other cultures are ‘wild hopes.’ Many of our sisters and brothers do not receive a salary nor do they get three meals a day nor does the sun of freedom shine in their lives. Born into poverty or oppressed by social systems, these people find little joy and peace. If they are fortunate in avoiding violence they still must struggle with resentment and bitterness in their awareness of the consumption and materialism of the wealthy.

We must pray like Jesus that hope might be restored and that the earth might be recast. Only then gift of the Holy Spirit can empower us to trust in the future and to assume our rightful responsibility for the common good. Renewing the face of the earth is the work of the Holy Spirit through those people who say yes to being the Spirit’s agent of knowledge, love, and kindness. Our hope, wild or tame, is grounded in God’s promise of presence. Herein is our joy and peace.

Psalm 25 is a good reminder for me that my hopes, both tame and wild, must be grounded in God if they are to be realized. I also need to be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and being taught things that will run counter to the wisdom of our modern, Western culture by that same Spirit. It is God’s job to recast our world into the kingdom of God but he uses his people, including me, through the leading of his Spirit, as his agents in the world to seek the common good of our neighbor, not just our own good. Too often I get caught up in my own little work-a-day world of pursuing the tame hopes of the next paycheck or putting food on the table for my family while ignoring the prodding of God’s Spirit to pursue the wild hopes of God’s kingdom: love, kindness, and peace for all mankind. I pray that I, along with all the people of God, will have the courage to live on the wild side.